We've moved!

Well, we've started a new blog, to be more specific...
We'll be posting at www.adventuresinlisterland.blogspot.com from here on out. Owen's blog will stay active so we can look back on the last few years with our boy. Eventually I'm hoping to move all of these posts over to the new blog so they'll all be in the same spot. Until then, we hope you come check out our new site!

Put me in, coach!

The day we found out Owen was a boy, Richie and I laughed about the possibility of having a really athletic, sporty son. I think it is fair to say the we both appreciate sports, but neither one of us are particularly gifted in any type of physical way. Sure enough, Owen's primary obsession has turned out to be balls. Baseballs, soccer balls, golf balls, tennis balls, footballs, basketballs....any kind of ball at all. Luckily, our neighborhood community center, in conjunction with CMT and the Nashville Sounds baseball team, sponsors a t-ball league for children 4-6 years old. At the bargain price of $15 for the season, it was a deal too good to pass up. In March, I hightailed it to the community center, check in hand, to enroll Owen, although he is only 3 and a half. I was thrilled to find out they accepted him into the league! Practice started last week and boy was it a hoot. Each team has 4's, 5's and 6-year-olds, so the skill level and comprehension of the game is quite varied. Here is our boy at his first practice...

Learning to run the bases (check out our beautiful Nashville skyline!)

More base running

Not really getting the concept of being in the field, but he did have fun talking with his teammates!

First game, Saturday June 6th

Going after the ball!

So many of our friends came out to cheer Owen on...they filled up the whole bleacher! And this is only part of the group who came!

His last at-bat. Notice the hat turned around backwards. He meant business!

Owen did such a great job in his first game! His coach devotes a lot of personal attention to Owen since he is the youngest one on the team. Each time he practices, he seems to understand what is going on a little better. We're so proud of our little slugger!

New do!

We went ahead and gave Owen a big summer buzz cut...he seems to like it, huh?

New House Resolutions...Revisited!

About a year ago, Richie and I were anxiously waiting to move from our rental house into our OWN house. After a cramped, cluttered couple of years in a house we eventually hated, I made a list of resolutions for how I hoped life in our new house would be. Now that we've gotten settled, I thought it would be fun to see how I'm doing on my goals!

1) Learn how to wash clothes with bleach. I am pleased to report that I now wash 1 load of laundry per week in bleach. I'm sure I will end up getting some weird nose disease for sniffing all that Clorox, but there is just something about the smell of bleached sheets and towels that I just love.

2) Don't keep things I don't really need. I guess to be honest this item is still a work in progress. I did create a filing system that has worked out pretty well. Organization takes a heck of a lot of work! But I am very happy to say that so far we've managed to do light years better than we ever have before in this area!

3) Create a place for every thing. This ties back in to the previous item. I think we've done pretty well with keeping things organized and clutter-free. I've really been enjoying my label maker, and amazingly, a little $20 mom toy really does make a big difference!

4) Start fixing the house up from Day 1. I've got to say, we've blown this one out of the water! When we moved in, we came up with a pretty nice sized list of things we want to do. We still have lots of projects to tackle, but as of today (and with the recent help of Richie's dad) we have managed to accomplish quite a bit...painting, new lighting, knobs and pulls, landscaping. I'm excited to see what we'll do in the year ahead!

5) Decorate in a way that really reflects our taste. When we moved, we sold just about every significant piece of furniture we owned: couch, tv, entertainment center, tables, lamps, beds. I had fantasies about how much FUN we would have taking a (small) wad of cash out on the town to buy our dream (budget) furniture. Let's just say my high hopes were not met. The process of decorating has proven to be longer and more difficult than I imagined. But although we don't have all the furniture we need and want, what we do have, we really love.

6) Invite our friends and family to come enjoy our new home! Mission Accomplished! We celebrated my birthday and Owen's birthday at home, as well as hosted a big Thanksgiving Day get-together with our friends. We bought a new bed and moved our bed to the extra bedroom, so the futon has been temporarily retired. Whew!

7) Meet our neighbors. We've also done relatively well on this one. Being the Type A that I am, I drew out a map of the houses around ours and have managed to fill in the names of most of our neighbors. Really we only converse with our direct next-door neighbors....two Mississippians!

So, although this is yet another post that has nothing to do with Owen and is probably one of the most boring things you've ever read, I've had fun taking a look back over the last year, so thanks for indulging me.

Oh, and that swing that the front porch was just begging for?

Done and done!

Mother's Day

I'm a little behind posting about Mother's Day, but I wanted to show off Richie and Owen's handywork...

We spent Mother's Day afternoon at a baby shower for some friends. That evening, I was invited to a Mother's Day Mothers Night Out with a great group of mommy friends! We all wore our aprons out to our neighborhood bar for a few hours of chatting and enjoying each other's company.

But by far, the best part of Mother's Day is just being a mother to this little guy...

Mudbugs

Saturday, we were excited be invited to a birthday crawfish boil for our friends Erin and Rebecca. When I RSVP'd, I let Erin know that Owen and I don't eat crawfish, but that Richie is a big fan. What I didn't take into consideration, however, is that Owen will pretty much eat anything. ANYTHING. Please take a moment to check out my friend Maggie's blog post about our afternoon:

Just say NO to Mommy Brain!: Boys are from Mars.

A&P with Owen

Quick funny...
Owen had an accident in his pants this morning....lots and lots of tee-tee. I commented, "Wow, where did all this tee-tee come from?!"

His matter-of-fact response: "My penis!"